Four Ways That Technology is Transforming Civic Engagement

A new study from the Pew Research Center looks at the way digital technology is changing civic engagement. Nick Judd digs into the results and pulls out four intriguing trends.

1 minute read

May 9, 2013, 9:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"The Pew Internet and American Life Project today released the results of a broad survey about civic life and the Internet. There are some obvious findings: People who are better educated and make more money are more likely to be politically active, for instance, and, as we've known for a while, people who find out about a political topic online can be motivated to seek out more information."

"But buried beneath the survey's top-line results are some surprising, and still statistically significant, results — things that tell us about the role of the Internet in politics that we did not already know," says Judd, who details four intruiging trends:

  1. Younger people are more engaged than senior citizens.
  2. Slacktivists are a minority.
  3. Lines of color, education and class in civic life extend online.
  4. The "Occupy" target market is still active.

Thursday, April 25, 2013 in Tech President

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